Humans have a longer childhood than any other animal-our children are more vulnerable and dependent than other species' infants. Why is this so? In the last thirty years there has been a revolution in our scientific understanding of infants and young children. Dr. Gopnik will show that even the youngest babies have learning abilities that are more powerful than those of the smartest scientists and most advanced computers.

Alison Gopnik

Alison is a Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at Berkeley, and one of the most prominent researchers in the effects of language on thought. She is renowned for her work on cognitive development in babies.

Dr. Matthew P. Scott

Dr. Matthew P. Scott was appointed the tenth president of the Carnegie Institution for Science beginning September 1, 2014. Scott was Professor of Developmental Biology, Genetics, Bioengineering, and Biology at the Stanford University School of Medicine prior to his Carnegie appointment.

Scott did his undergraduate and graduate work at M.I.T., with Prof. Mary Lou Pardue as his Ph.D. thesis advisor. He moved to Indiana University for his postdoctoral work as a Helen Hay Whitney fellow with Profs. Thomas Kaufman and Barry Polisky. After setting up his own lab at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Dr. Scott went to Stanford in 1990 to join the newly formed Department of Developmental Biology, and the Department of Genetics. His research focused on genes that control development, and how damage to these genes leads to birth defects, cancer, and neurodegeneration. He discovered the “homeobox,”an evolutionarily conserved component of many genes that control development. His lab group discovered the genetic basis of the most common human cancer, basal cell carcinoma, and of the most common childhood malignant brain tumor, medulloblastoma.

Scott served as Associate Chair and Chair of the Department of Developmental Biology for a total of six years. He chaired the multidisciplinary Bio-X program at Stanford from 2001-2007 and was Co-chair of the Center for Children’s Brain Tumors. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine, and he served as president of the Society for Developmental Biology. His awards include the Passano Award (1990), the Conklin Medal of the Society for Developmental Biology (2004), and the Pasarow Award in Cancer Research (2013).